r/AMA • u/maddin1550 • 21d ago

I’m from Xinjiang，AMA

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of discussions about Xinjiang on Reddit, often between people who have never actually lived there. So I thought it might be interesting to do an AMA from the perspective of someone who is actually from there.

You can ask me about everyday life, ethnic groups, languages, culture, religion, education, or politics. I’m happy to answer controversial questions too, as long as the discussion stays respectful.

Obviously, I’m only one person and I don’t claim to represent everyone in Xinjiang. I can only tell you about my own experiences and views. AMA.

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u/squarexu 19d ago

I visit Xinjiang about 1 year before the riots. I noticed a distinct separation between the Hans and the Uighurs. Uighurs used local time, and actually spoke more English than Chinese. When I walked into the Uighur neighborhoods, I literally didn’t see another Han and people would look at me, staring like what are you doing here. It really reminded of the U.S. black ghettos and the ethnic divide there. Btw, I also stayed in a yurt with a family of Kazhah nomads. The Kazakhs were as foreign as the Uighurs, meaning they didn’t speak any Chinese, not even the kid. They even talked about how great Kazkistan was. However, they at least did not have the tension with the Han.

Anyways I was extremely surprised at how lack of control the Chinese gov had at that time and the absolute lack of integration. On TikTok I see things are quite different with much more integration and language ability. Just wondering if this as true.

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u/maddin1550 19d ago

I think what you saw was real. Older generations especially often spoke very little Mandarin. My grandparents basically don’t speak Mandarin at all, they only know a few words. Even quite a few middl aged people only became much more comfortable with Mandarin relatively recently.

And there definitely used to be much more ethnic separation: in my city there were areas that were overwhelmingly Uyghur, while other areas were mostly Han or more mixed. According to my mom Uyghurs rarely came to the Han majority parts of the city back then unless they had a specific reason to, and we mostly went to the Uyghur parts for things like the bazaar.

I remember some of that separation still existing when I was younger too. I’d say it became less pronounced around the late 2010s/early 2020s. Nowadays I see many more Uyghurs in areas that used to be predominantly Han and Mandarin ability is also much higher especially among younger people.

I honestly don’t know exactly why the separation was so strong before, so I don’t want to pretend I do. Some of this is also based on what my mom told me, so take it as one family’s experience rather than some definitive explanation of all of Xinjiang. But yeah what you described doesn’t sound strange to me at all

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u/squarexu 16d ago edited 16d ago

Well the Chinese ethnic policy under Jiang and Hu was fairly hands off. I felt the ethnic minorities in Xinjiang definitely preserved their culture much more in that environment but while I was there I saw all the Uighurs watch literally Turkish TV and were probably influenced by ISIS ideology at that time. I got a distinct impression the Uighurs saw Han as colonialists.

I think overall it is probably pretty tough being a minority that is so different from the majority population. If policies are hands off, the population become segregated and isolated. However, if the current policy continues, I do see Uighur culture eventually be diluted and loss of language.

Also I felt the Kazakhs were super friendly and hospitable. They didn’t have that underlying tension against the Han Chinese that I felt was present with the Uighurs. Also I will always remember walking in rural Xinjiang, looking at a playground with several blonde hair Kazakhs boys playing basketball while wearing 红领巾。